1. Can anyone help me find where Distinetz, Lithuania is or was? Maybe it exists with a different name today?? An internet search on the JewishGen site and a general internet search, as well as a look over old and new maps of Lithuania have not helped up to now.
[...]
My Grandfather was born in Distinetz, Lithuania. This is the way the name of the town was remembered by his siblings and children and this is backed up in official papers that he wrote the name after he left Lithuania and is published even in a number of books published where our family roots and tree are explored.
Sounds a lot like Wistinetz (Vishtinetz), in Vilkaviskis uyezd, Suwalki gubernia. In Lithuanian it is called Vištytis and is now on the border to the Kaliningrad enclave. 170 km west of Vilna.
